My parents were visiting my Aunt Deb and Uncle Mark in Pennsylvania, so Josh and I went up there to hang out with them. My husband was particularly happy to be back on the blue side of the Mason-Dixon line. He also took great joy in "crossing the Potomac."

I had never been to Mark and Deb's before, but I was under the impression (I don't know why) that the home was a modest rambler. So when we pulled in to the estate at 443 Plum, I was a bit confused. The house is massive. At first look, it's at least twice as big as our "little" rental house--and that's not counting the 2-car attached garage or the 3-car detached garage.

Step inside, though, and it's a different story. This massive home has little more livable space than our bungalow. Tons of space wasted in high ceilings, balcony staircases and odd angles, just like every other McMansion I've been in. Not that it wasn't a nice house--a little "designer generic" with wood floors and granite countertops, etc--but I much prefer a cottage or foursquare that keeps the ratio of floorspace to volume high.

It was a nice visit. Short--which I was kind of glad for--but nice. I'm not the kind of person that can "do stuff" with people all day. I need a little down time. We played cards, cooked, and had lots of interesting talks. I look forward to doing it again.